Cataclysmic Orbital Alterations (Noach)

After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say 'I want to see the manager.' -William S. Burroughs

Humanity has infuriated God. Almost the entire human race has succumbed to a culture of violence and greed. God decides to wipe the slate clean and start over with Noah and his family. He sends the flood that destroys almost all creatures on the planet, except for those that escaped the destruction of the world on Noah’s ark.

Rabbi Ovadia Sforno (1475-1549) on Genesis 6:13 explains that God’s wrath wasn’t limited to merely the deluge but extended to Earth’s entire orbital dynamics with long-lasting effects that are with us until this day.

He explains that not only did God open both the rains from the heavens and the deep waters to flood the world, He also moved the Earth out of its previous orbit around the Sun. Before the Deluge, the Earth rotated around the Sun in a manner that created an environmental paradise. Humanity lived in an eternal spring. The incredibly nutritious produce of the earth and the continually mild climate contributed to people’s extensive lifespan, lasting hundreds of years, as documented in the early chapters of Genesis.

However, when humankind would not abandon their violent, self-centered ways, God changed our planetary reality, with dire consequences. The Earth would no longer orbit the Sun in a permanently idyllic season. There would be constant temperature fluctuations, from scorching summers to frigid winters. The wide swing of the temperature pendulum would diminish humankind’s lifespan. The short, varied and harsh seasons would reduce the nutritional content of produce, further limiting the length of our natural lives. The reduced nutritional content is the reason that God instructs Noah after leaving the ark that they can now eat from the flesh of animals to supplement their dietary needs.

The darkness that humanity created for itself impacted not only the planet, but all of humanity for millennia to come.

May we escape our violent, greedy and self-centered inclinations, and perhaps merit returning to the paradise that was lost.

Shabbat Shalom,

Ben-Tzion

Dedication

To an incredibly impressive aerial attack on Iran by the Israeli Air Force.